


Walk along

by Paper_Panda



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Fluff, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Gen, Protective Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 03:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17256425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paper_Panda/pseuds/Paper_Panda
Summary: Bucky meets a little girl on the abandoned street. It turns that she got lost. At the beginning Barnes intends to get past this situation, but finally he decides to help her.





	Walk along

The road lay before them like a tarmac ribbon. A white line ran down the center, relatively unbroken compared to the scarred and potholed concrete.

Bucky walked down this abandoned street keeping his hands deep in his bomber jacket’s pockets.

The wind was howling like some horror movie opener, so Barnes squinted. “Fucking weather,” he hummed deeply under his breath.  
His hair was whipping so violently about his face he could barely see at all.

It was when he noticed something with a corner of his eye.

Little girl wandered the street, she wasn’t homeless for sure.  
Girl was dressed in a pink coat and hat with cat ears.

It looked like she was looking for something, the girl only shivered because of the wind and walked pass Bucky. She looked at him and smiled, stopping for a second.  
“Good evening, sir.”

He didn’t intend to answer, yet it wasn’t a usual thing to see anyone around that abandoned street. The neighborhood wasn’t too pleasant, especially for a little girl.

Barnes stopped also and looked at her above his shoulder.  
“Hi. What are ya doing here, girl?,” he asked casually.

Girl was quiet for a moment.  
“I am looking for my mommy, sir,” she explained, swinging on her feet and pulling her hat more on.

The man looked rather scary for her, so she took one little step back. Mom told her many times to not talk to strangers, but she also told her to be nice for other people.

He rubbed over his chin, his glance was still down on her.  
“You got lost?,” Bucky threw a single question, turning fully to her. “It’s not a safe place. Where are your parents? Where do you live?”

Girl nodded slowly.  
“Yes. I don’t know where my mommy is. I thought I will find the way home but I didn’t, sir.”

She looked up and smiled at him.  
“You have a nice big blue eyes, sir!,” girl giggled excitedly.

Bucky crouched in front of her, he tilted his head a bit.  
“Do you remember the address?,” Barnes asked. “If yes, I can walk you up to the house,” he offered slightly.

He was thinking for a longer second, only to ask another question.  
“What’s your name, little one?”

The girl frowned softly, not too pleased with lack of answer from Bucky.  
“I don’t, sir. All I know is that my home is somewhere near a really biiiig tower!,” she jumped happily. “My name is Carolyn, sir. What’s your?”

“I like your name,” Bucky smiled, however he didn’t intend to do so. “My name is James, James Barnes,” he pulled his flesh hand out of his pocket and reached it to her.

Girl giggled.  
“Hello, James, James Barnes! You have a very funny name,” she said, grabbing his hand. “But… I can’t go with you,” girl said quietly. “My feet hurts. Are you strong enough to carry me?”

Before he thought, Bucky let out a deep, loud laugh.

Oh, she was so cute.

Her hair was as waves of pure earth, softly reflecting the light of the sun; few of a long locks peeked from under her hat.

Bucky knew he had some things to do, but he couldn’t refuse to help that kid.

He rubbed his chin, humming loudly as he pretended he was considering every concern, but finally he nodded.  
“I think I can give it a try.”

Girl squeeked loudly when he picked her up.  
“Wow! James, James Barnes, you are sooo strong!,” she chuckled.

Girl pushed her hair back under her hat.  
Right now she had no other choice but to trust this stranger or rather a new friend. Even if he was big and scary, he couldn’t be a bad guy.

Carolyn relaxed in his arms and sighed softly, putting her head on his shoulder.  
Some part of his arm felt weird, girl poked it and looked at him, being slightly confused because of what she felt there.

Bucky played along and cocked his brow.  
“What? Is anything wrong?,” he kindly inquired.

He improved the grip around her little waist, he didn’t want to let her fall.

“Why do you have a hard arm?,” girl asked innocently and poked his shoulder again, then poked rest o his arm to check if she was right.

“Can you keep a secret, little one?,” he questioned, making a conspiracy voice, lowering his tone as he glared at her.

Girl blinked and nodded.  
“Yes, I can, James, James Barnes,” she smiled at him to confirm that she was telling the truth.

Bucky nodded in respond before he spoke his mind up.  
“I’m the member of Avengers team,” man explained simply as he was walking down the street with girl in his arm. “So you can be sure you’re safe with me, little one,” he playfully poked her little, rosy cheek, showing his perfect teeth in a wide smile. “So. Where shall we go now?”

Bucky stopped at a crossroads, he put girl down, looking around.

Girl gasped loudly.  
“You are the Winter Solder! You are my favorite Avenger!,” Carolyn squeaked again with a huge smile on her face. “You are big, strong and good! You are the best! And you are Cap’s buddy!,” she said excitedly, waving her hands, and then she looked around with Bucky. “Maybe let’s go there,” Carolyn pointed into the direction of city center. “My house is close to a big tower, I think it has an A letter on the top.”

Bucky facepalmed and sighed, grinning.  
“I didn’t get about what tower you were talking about,” he summed up, spreading his arms in a powerless gesture. “Sorry, my bad.”

Bucky put his flesh hand back to pocket and offered girl his metal hand to hold.  
“You seem to know a lot about Avengers,” he said as they started walking along the sidewalk.

She gladly took his big, metal hand into her tiny palm. Carolyn looked at him and smiled brightly.

She was just a child and didn’t see anything bad in Bucky’s metal arm. Such a small kid still had enough of innocence to accept him just the way he was.

“I like your metal arm,” Carolyn hummed, trying to play with his fingers.

“Thanks,” Bucky chuckled. “Who do you like besides me, hmmm?,” bearded man asked, looking down at girl.

“I like Falcon! He has a cool wings, I also like Black Widow! She is pretty like my mommy. Also, Ant-man is cool! He is funny just like my dad,” she took a deep breath to continue. “Spider-boy is so nice! I saw him once when I went shopping with mommy! He was swinging between the building and Mr. Stark was there with him, too! But I don’t like the big green man… He’s scary and the bowman is weird, why you keep him when he doesn’t have superpowers?,” Girl asked and looked up at Bucky, a questioning glance on her face.

Bucky, who was cut off by her monologue, couldn’t do nothing more but smile innocently.  
“I would have to ask Cap about this, and Stark also. They’re kinda a root of the team, so every decision that is made is considered mostly by them,” he said openly. “You know, thanks for reminding me how old I am, in my time girls didn’t pay attention to heroes, instead they preferred to play with dolls, but as I see, a lot has changed irretrievably,” Bucky smiled with a joy in his eyes.

Bucky watched his feet take steps across the paving blocks, his dusty canvas sneakers next to the shined pointed-toe leather shoes of the girl walking next to him.

He didn’t know why, but it was one of the rare moments when he was feeling truly happy.

“I have dolls!,” she protested. “But I also have plush toys, I have action figurines! I even have you, I even have a t-shirt with Cap, mom bought me one on my birthday, I wear it as often as I only can, even if other girls laugh at me because of it. I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I love to watch the news with my parents because they always talk about heroes and what they did. I really love to draw, you know? I have this BIG art case! I have everything there!”

Carolyn talked like this by the whole way, she wanted Bucky to know as much as possible.

She stopped suddenly, unsure where to go when she finally spotted her house, surrounded by police cars.

“Do you think that something happened?,” girl asked looking at Bucky with fear in her eyes.

“I guess I do,” he said firmly. “I bet your parents were scared about you, so apparently they’ve called cops,” Bucky explained, leading girl to the nearest police car. “Hey, excuse me, I found her roaming among the surroundings nearby.”

Before policeman could say anything, a woman ran up to them.  
“Carolyn! My babygirl! Where were you?! We were so worried!,” woman said and a man joined her.

Carolyn hugged to woman tightly.  
“I am okay, mommy! I was safe, Bucky helped me! You see?! He is the Avenger!”

Woman blinked and looked at Bucky. “Oh, really?”

He only smiled, nodding.  
“The most important is that she’s safe and sound,” he summed up.

Man grabbed Bucky’s hand to shake it.  
“Thank you! Thank you so much! She ran after the kitten and didn’t listen when we called her,” he said.

Girl blushed and hugged to her mother.  
“Can Bucky visit us sometimes, daddy? He found me after all.”

Man nodded, looking at his daughter, than at Bucky.  
“Of course he can, he found our little girl.”

“I’m sorry, but most likely I’ll be busy with fighting bad guys,” Bucky smiled at girl and petted her cheek. “Next time listen to your mom and dad, kay? You’re a big girl, you have to listen to your parents. If not, and trust me, I’ll know about this,” Bucky winked at Carolyn’s dad, “I’ll send Hulk himself to you. And trust me, he’s not as nice as I am.”

Girl frowned when she heard his answer.  
“You know what! When I grow up I will be just like you, I will be big and strong like you or Cap, and I will fight bad guys just like you do!,” Carolyn said happily.

Bucky cocked his brow and smirked at her.  
“If you would be a boy, you would be my pal already, hehehe,” he stated.

Shortly after he greeted girl’s parents and walked off.

Soon he was heading back to the Avengers Tower, this time alone. But this time he didn’t feel lonely at all.  
Somewhere there still was a little human being for whom he already was a true hero, role model, but most of all, a friend.


End file.
